After
by moonshadow2012
Summary: What if everything was a hoax? What if Phineas was using the experiments and inventions to acheive something bigger? And what happens after?
1. Prologue

**Okay so this is my first shot at writing a dark side to Phineas, so I hope I can get it right. That sounds a little weird, but being fellow authors, I'm sure you get what I mean.**

_The Beginning of the Summer of the episodes_

"_Why can't you just be a good boy for _one day_?" Linda Flynn-Fletcher yelled at her son. Phineas showed no sign of having heard her, his head bobbing to the music screaming out of tiny headphones. His dark sunglasses hid his eyes and his soul from her sight. Linda yanked his headphones out, at the end of her rope. Phineas threw his hands up, annoyed._

"_Do _NOT _give me that look!" Linda yelled. "I have had it up to _HERE _with your attitude! You used to be a nice boy. You used to be so energetic and optimistic. What. Happened."_

"_Do you really need to ask?" Phineas drawled, leaning back in the chair and kicking his feet up against the table._

"_Yes! I do!" Linda exclaimed. Phineas shook his head._

"_You just don't get it, do you?" Phineas asked. "You have no idea just what's going on?" Linda, not for the first and most certainly not for the last time, stared at her son blankly._

"_I do not." She said. Phineas sighed._

"_You know what, forget it." He said._

"_No, you forget it. Just give me one summer, Phineas. One summer of the boy you used to be." Linda was almost begging now, and she hated it. Phineas pinched the bridge of his oversized nose._

"_One summer." He said. "I'll try, but I'm not promising anything."_

"_Good. And you really should spend more time with your step-brother." Linda said, more confident now that it seemed she was getting her way. Phineas groaned._

"_Ferb? But he's just so weird and, I don't know, boring." He said. "He _never _talks." Linda sighed._

"_You know what? Just…make an effort." She said, leaving the room. Phineas watched her go, his eyes following her as she turned her back and walked away, probably to go complain to her new husband about how unbearable her son was. Phineas smirked. _One summer, Mom._ He thought. _And then I get what _I _want.

**Tell me what you think! Short, I know, but good, right? Anyway, it sets the stage, so get ready for the next chapter. Moo ha ha. (Chuck shout out, for whoever caught that. Tell me who said it and what they were doing at the time in a review if you know.)**


	2. Sometimes

**First chapter! Yeah, I know, **_**very original.**_

**Six years later**

Phineas' pov

"Ferb, what's this all about?" I asked, annoyed. Ferb stared at me in disbelief.

"_What's this all about?_ Are you _kidding_ me?" His voice rose. "Today was our first day of high school and you completely ignored me. You ignored all of us. You didn't even talk to me. To _me_. And for what? To flirt with some weird anarchist chick?" I gritted my teeth, feeling anger bubble up inside of me.

"Alice is not 'some weird anarchist chick'. And we weren't flirting." I said.

"She is so anarchist." Ferb shot back.

"Yeah, but she's not weird." I said.

"Phineas, this isn't you. You're not some rebel who deserts his friends." Ferb said. A black sheet filled my mind.

"You don't know me, okay? You don't know anything about me. You're not even my real brother. If my mom didn't have custody over me, I wouldn't even _be_ here." I snapped. There was a long silence. For me, it was filled with a question. Why _was_ I still here? Just because my mom was my legal guardian didn't mean that I had to stay.

"I'm going to study with Isabella." I said. I could see Ferb's incredulous face in my mind, but dared not look behind me. Looking back gave you away. Plus, if I looked back, there was a ninety percent chance I would lose my nerve.

_Sometimes when I lie_

_I know you're onto me_

I walked over to Isabella's house, then walked through the gate into her backyard and glanced around, ducking behind the bushes towards the fence on the other side. I glanced back once, just once, then jumped over the fence and began to run. I knew I should feel guilty, or at least a small sense of loss, but all I could feel when I pictured their faces when they discovered I was gone was an almost giddy sense of evil joy.

_Sometimes I don't mind_

_How hateful that I can be_

_Sometimes I don't try_

_To make you happy_

I ran until I got to the Googlplex Mall, then blended into the crowd of kids coming from school and home. I ducked into the boys bathroom and unzipped my backpack. I pulled on a black t-shirt with a grey hoodie over it, and ripped black skinny jeans. I took out some spray dye I'd appropriated when I'd leaned on the dye shelf on my way over and sprayed my hair black. I put in the brown contacts I'd borrowed from some random person and looked in the mirror for results. I nodded. My nose, which was my most distinguishing characteristic, could wait. The rest of me was unrecognizable.

_I don't know why I do_

_The things I do to you_

I got on the first bus out of Danville. The driver didn't ask for identification, so I was all right there. Secretly, I was glad he hadn't. I'd been clean for almost a whole three months, and I wanted to ease back into my normal lifestyle. Starting with saying good-bye to mommy darling, sister dear, step-dad-of-the-year and my so-called brother for good.

I felt something in me qualm at the thought of never seeing them again, but I crushed it. I'd waited years for this. I wasn't going to blow it all for some idiot conscience I'd picked up from my step-brother. I pulled out my phone and sighed, then tossed it out the bus window.

_Sometimes I don't want to be better_

_Sometimes I can't be put back together_

_Sometimes I find it hard to believe_

_There's someone else who could be_

_Just as messed-up as me_

The first stop passed by, then the second, then the third. On the fourth, some weird too-nice-type man sat by me.

"You traveling on your own?" He asked.

I nodded, turning back to the window, annoyed.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

I ignored him, watching the trees and fields pass by while the clouds seemed to remain in exactly the same place.

"You gonna just sit there the whole time?" He asked.

"Leave me alone old man." I snapped. The man grunted.

"I just don't see how a kid as young as you would be traveling alone." He said. I bristled, my mind immediately flashing through a dozen comebacks, but dwelling on the truth.

_Sometimes don't deny_

_That everything is wrong_

My mom and dad broke up when I was five years old, and my mom went and married another guy in not even another year. It took four more years for us to get living arrangements down, and in that time I spent more than a little time living with my grandparents or in a foster home. Mom didn't care. All she cared about was her stupid Lawrence and her stupid dream life. She didn't care about me and she never had.

_Sometimes I'd rather die_

_Than to admit it's my fault_

When I started doing the things that I did, it was an escape. It was an outlet. No one had ever taken the time to teach me anything else. And by the time they started noticing the changes in me, I was too far in to ever want out. It wasn't my fault I had aggression issues, that I got into fights. It wasn't my fault that I was so much smarter than everyone else and could crack even the toughest code like some kids could shove a candy bar down their throat. None of what I did was my fault. If my parents hadn't screwed up my life in the first place, I never would've had to do any of that stuff to let my anger out.

_Sometimes when you cry_

_I just don't care at all_

Mom cried when I got arrested the first time, but that only made me angrier. She never acted like she cared about me unless someone was there who would clap after her show. She said it was her fault. She said she was sorry. She said we could fix this. I didn't believe her. I never did.

_I don't know why I do_

_The things I do to you but_

I wasn't exactly sure when I had started to hate Ferb, or why. Maybe it was because his mom sent him e-mails every day. Maybe it was because his dad would never, ever get so drunk he would hit him or not even remember his own name. Maybe it was because he had everything I should've had and could do almost everything I could. Maybe it was because he was nice to me no matter what I did. And maybe that was why he was still in my head after I'd pushed Linda Flynn, Lawrence Fletcher, and Candace Flynn out.

_Sometimes I don't wanna be better_

_Sometimes I can't be put back together_

_Sometimes I find it hard to believe_

_There's someone else who could be_

_Just as messed-up as me_

I got off at the sixth or seventh stop in a town called Red Cove. Which was a stupid name because it wasn't even close to the ocean or any body of water for that matter. I walked down the main street until I could duck into a back alley. I followed the cobblestone streets riddled with potholes and puddles and stink until I got to an old garage with a faded sign above it reading _Carlos' Cars_. I made myself comfortable in the back of the garage until around eleven pm when Carlos came back from the bar.

"Phineas! Good to see you." He said, reaching his arms out to embrace me. I could smell the alcohol on his breath from across the room and stayed where I was on the old mold-rotted couch.

"Carlos." I nodded. "I'm calling in a solid you owe me." Suddenly Carlos was all business. That is, as all-business as you can be after downing twenty shots of some weird contraption you let your internet date mix up for you.

"Sure, sure, what do you need? An engine job? Paint maybe? I have some nice ketchup in the bedroom." He leered, staggering to the chair across from me. I sighed, fingering the small vile I had in my pocket.

"Not cars, Carlos. Think. I'm fifteen years old, it's eleven o'clock at night, and my legal guardian is halfway across the state." I said. Carlos thought a minute, then a light dawned on his face.

"You need papers." He said.

"Good boy!" I said sarcastically. "Keep it up and I just might give you a treat!" Carlos frowned.

"Don't mess with me, Phineas. I can be dangerous when I'm drunk." He said, trying to sound threatening, but actually looking like a confused walrus on a rock.

"Whatever. Just get me those papers." I said. "Tomorrow though. I don't want to get picked up the first time I run into our little friends in uniform." Carlos nodded.

"Tomorrow, then." He rubbed his head. "Maybe better make it in a day or two. I think I really overdid it tonight."

"Did you get her number, at least?" I asked.

"Number. Yes. It's…" He looked around. "It's somewhere." I rolled my eyes.

"Get some rest. I want to be long gone by at least three days from now." I said.

"Yes. Rest. Goodnight Phineas." He said, staggering off to his room.

I curled up on the couch and used my backpack as a pillow. I watched the lights from cars passing by, I watched the stars spin across the sky, I watched the moon change direction…but I did not sleep the entire night. I did not dare.

**So, how was it? TELL ME! I NEED TO KNOW! Feel free to make suggestions and predictions on how you want/think this story will go because they're fun to read! (O_o) **


	3. Evesdropping is a Bad Thing

**Okay first let me apologize for not updating any of my stories for so long. I'm just being lazy and working on other stuff…like trying to get an actual book published. Of course that means I have to finish one first…*sigh* Anyway, now that I've apologized for ducking out on you guys – which I really shouldn't have done. Besides the fact that you're so awesome in your reviews, I probably am going to lose my audience :S. Anyway, so I got a lot more ideas for this story in the time I was skipping out, and I'm going to try to write more. Because it's summer vacation, and therefore, Phineas and Ferb stories must be updated! Wow I can't believe I forgot it was summer vacation until just now. I'm such a smarty! 3! (that was a heart, in case FF blocked the little pointy thing that I can't remember the name of)**

Phineas pov

My name is Damian Carlson. At least, that's what my papers say. My papers also classify me as an eighteen-year-old, and therefore a legal adult. So it won't be unusual to see me on my own. I was walking towards the bus stop to get out of Red Cove for good. Carlos would have to handle things on his own from now on. I wasn't going to be around to hack into the police records for him. Unless he had put something in the I.D. card or the driver's license. It didn't matter. I had run them both through my laptop, and all of my stuff, including the new phone I'd appropriated from a store, was now untraceable. All I had to do now, was get as far away from Danville and my idiot 'family' as possible.

"I'm telling you, he was just here. He couldn't have skipped town yet."

My eyes widened. It was Carlos' voice, and I really hoped he was not talking about me. I ducked into an alley, hiding behind a huge dumpster loaded with crap that really stank. Maybe it was a fast-food restaurant. I held my breath as Carlos and two other men stopped at the head of the alley.

"And you just let him walk out of your store?" A dangerous-sounding man growled. Carlos shifted position.

"Hey, hey! You don't know the guy. He was probably awake all night. He doesn't trust me, he doesn't trust anybody." Carlos protested. I smirked. He had that right.

"You didn't even get anything on him?" A second dangerous-sounding man cracked his knuckles.

"I'm telling you – you can't get anything past this kid. He's like, the world's most-wanted or something. He knows _everything._ Besides, I owed him." The sound of someone being grabbed by their shirt collar while some sort of animal threatened them followed.

"You're useless, you piece of s**t." The second man said bitterly. "You just let him go. Now we'll never find him. The boss isn't going to be very happy with any of us."

"Will you two keep it down? He's probably watching us right now." The first man said. "We have to get more information, then feed it to our boys back at HQ. They'll figure out a way to predict his movements."

"_Predict_ his _movements_?" Carlos laughed. "He spent the last _five years _playing perfect son just so no one would expect him to duck out. The only time in those past five years he did anything illegal was when he vandalized some weirdo's building and it ended up collapsing. Doofinshmirtz Evil Inc., I think it was."

"What? DEI? Do you think…" The second man questioned.

"It's possible. We should review the file back at HQ." The first man said.

"But sir, what about our plan to pick them both up at the same time?" The second man asked.

"How many times have I told you to keep your mouth shut?" The first man hissed.

"Sorry, sir." I heard boot steps walking away, and slid to the ground, sitting with my arms crossed on top of my knees. I laid my head back against the dumpster, smell forgotten. What had they been talking about? It had to be me. But what would people like that want me for? Okay, it wasn't like I was just another teenager, but I hadn't been terrorizing the public lately. And who was the other person they were talking about? Ferb? I frowned. I had pretty much been counting on never thinking of anyone with the name Flynn-Fletcher ever again, but what if he was in danger? I may have been heartless, or even evil, but for some reason I couldn't just stand back and watch someone die. Even someone like Ferb. I sighed, pulling out my new cell and speed-dialing someone, lifting it to my ear.

"Hello?" A bored female voice answered on the second ring.

"Alice, it's me." I said. "I have a job for you."

Ferb pov

I couldn't sleep the whole night. Something was missing, and I knew what that something was. My brother. Phineas Flynn. Of course, the full moon shining through the window onto his bed didn't help. So I was in a pretty bad mood. Candace had been driving straight through the night, and had gotten home at around three am. When she opened the door, trying to be all sneaky and not wake anyone up, I crept down the stairs and made us both coffee, using the normal method instead of the insta-coffee machine Phineas and I had built the first school year after what had come to be known as the summer of the roller coaster.

"Couldn't sleep?" Candace asked. I nodded, watching the dinosaur of a coffee maker heat up. It was old-school even by normal standards. My older sister yawned sleepily, dropping her purse on the carpet and kicking off her white stelletos.

"Man. I have finals this week. Could Phineas have chosen any worse timing to disappear?" I turned to glare at my sister, but she held up her hands. "Sorry, sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood." I sighed, leaning back against the counter.

"No, it's fine." I said. "It's just…Phineas and I had a fight, right before he disappeared, and I think that may have been the reason he ran off." Candace blinked, then sighed.

"Ferb…it wasn't you." She said. "Trust me on this one. Phineas…Phineas has always had some sort of issues with our family, ever since he was old enough to think for himself – which, for Phineas, was like three months. When we were in foster homes, Phineas would always say how much he wished he could reinvent his life. I think it scarred him, and he never really forgave mom for it." She shook her head. "I used to lie awake at night and wonder what was keeping him here. I mean, he could do almost everything, so why wasn't he where he wanted to be. I used to think maybe he was scared, but you know, Phineas was never the one who would get scared. Even though he may not admit it, Ferb, the reason he wasn't running was you."

"Then why didn't he stay?" I asked. The question hung in the air, and in my thoughts long after the sun rose. _Why didn't you stay, Phineas?_

_Tonight I'm so alone_

_The sorrow takes ahold_

_Don't leave me it's so cold_

_Never want to be so cold_

_I've wasted so much time_

_Don't leave me alone_

_Cause I barely see at all_

_Don't leave me alone_

_I'm_

_Falling in the black_

_Slipping through the cracks_

_Falling to the depths_

_Can I ever come back?_

_Dreaming of the way_

_It used to be_

_Can you hear me?_

_Falling in the black_

_Slipping through the cracks_

_Falling to the depths can I ever come back?_

_Falling inside the black_

_Falling inside_

_Falling inside_

_The black_

_You were my source of strength_

_I've traded everything_

_For this one thing_

_Don't leave me here like this_

_Can't hear me scream from the abyss_

_Don't leave me alone_

_Cause I barely see at all_

_Don't leave me alone_

_I'm_

_Falling in the black_

_Slipping through the cracks_

_Falling to the depths can I ever come back?_

_Dreaming of the way it used to be_

_Can you hear me?_

_Falling in the black_

_Slipping through the cracks_

_Falling to the depths can I ever come back?_

_Falling inside the black_

_Falling inside_

_Falling inside_

_The black_

**Okay so yes, I edited the song so it wouldn't seem like I was doing a slash here, because I have other couples in mind for this thing. Like maybe Phinbella or Ferbella or Phineas X my oc or Ferb X my oc or Isabella X my oc (I'm going to have A LOT of ocs in this thing) or maybe a combination of all of them. Plus, I don't do slashes. So deal with it. Anyway, what do you think after all this time? Do I still have it?**


	4. The Contact

**Okay so I'm back to updating on this archive because I've discovered that no matter how hard I try, I can't abandon my little friends Phineas and Ferb .**

Ferb pov

"Do you have any leads at all?" Mom was pleading with the officers at the door, pleading with them to give her any tiny strand of hope. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my head in my hands. _It won't work Mom. _I wanted to say. _You can't find someone like Phineas who wants to disappear._ Finally, I stood up with a jolt. Candace looked up at my questioningly, and I frowned at her, shaking my head slowly.

"I have to get out of here." I said. She nodded, gesturing with a thumb towards the sliding glass door leading out into the backyard.

"Take the back door." She told me. "No use getting Mom freaked out in front of the police. I'll cover for you." I nodded my thanks and grabbed my jacket. It was surprisingly cold for this time of the year, it wasn't even fall yet, even if school had started.

I headed out the back gate with pretty much no clue as to where I was going besides _away from here._ I couldn't stand being around Mom and Dad when they were having what Candace called a 'flip out session', and the only other people to talk to were Candace and Perry, neither of which understood me for completely different reasons. Phineas had been the only one I could talk to, the only one who knew what I was saying even when I wasn't saying it out loud. And now it looked like maybe I should've been the one listening to what wasn't being said.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't notice the shadowy figure that was following me until I was in the heart of the city. I was passing by a dark alley when someone came up behind me and clapped a hand over my mouth, shoving something hard into my back.

"Listen up, kid." A rough voice whispered in my ear. "No sudden movements, no funny business. You don't know who you're dealing with." I made a move to reach behind me and Vulcan pinch the guy (I was in a bad mood), but he was too fast. Quicker than I would've suspected to be humanly possible, he Vulcan pinched me. "It's called Karma, kid." He said, his voice echoing in my fogged mind. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

…

I came to groggily with my head throbbing. I was sitting in a chair with my wrists and ankles handcuffed to the sides. I blinked, looking around curiously at the dark room. A light flicked on above my head and I blinked in the sudden light, cutting my wrist when I tried to shield my eyes from the shock. Footsteps announced the arrival of another person in front of me, but their physical features were hidden by the shadows.

"Ferb Fletcher?" A man's voice asked. I didn't answer, focusing my eyes on where I supposed their face to be. The man shifted slightly. "Answer me or someone you know will get hurt."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped. The man laughed.

"So you can talk. Very interesting." Footsteps informed me that he was walking in a circle around me, just outside the light. "I need something that you have." He said.

"And asking doesn't work anymore?" I spit out sarcastically. The man laughed again, this time as if he had just discovered a useful fact about me.

"You're a lot like your step-brother." He said. I jerked upright.

"Phineas? Where is he?" I demanded.

"That's what I need you for." The man said. "I want to find Phineas, so do you. But Phineas doesn't trust me."

"Apparently, he doesn't trust me either." I grumbled in a low voice.

"But he's more likely to trust you, being that you're the only one of us who hasn't tried to kill him yet." I blinked in surprise.

"Why would you want to kill Phineas?" I asked. The man chuckled without humor.

"There are many things you don't know about your little friend." He said. "Many things." He began pacing again. "You can't trust him, remember that. Phineas doesn't take sides, and he doesn't make alliances. He just takes what he needs and leaves you to die."

"How do you know that?" I asked suspiciously.

"Never mind that." The man came closer to me, so his brown shoes were illuminated by the light circle. "I have information that suggests Phineas may be about to contact you. We need you to tell us what happens, when it happens. This is very important. We need to capture him and bring him in." I struggled against the handcuffs once again.

"What makes you think I'll do anything that would put Phineas in danger?" I asked.

"Because if you don't hand him over to us…I'll kill your little friend." A screen folded down from the ceiling, buzzed, then showed a young woman unconscious on the floor of a cage. I gasped. It was Vanessa Doofinshmirtz, my ex-girlfriend.

"You're really low." I said. The man stepped forward, blocking out the light, and fastened a pendent around my neck.

"I pride myself on it." He replied. "This is a tracking device. If you try to escape, I'll kill her. It's also a communication device. Just press it against any piece of technology and we'll be able to hear every word you and whoever is with you is saying. When Phineas contacts you, activate the communication and give it to him so we know who has it. You have three days before we fire off a warning shot – literally."

"You keep your hands off Vanessa-" I began.

"Goodnight, Mr. Fletcher."

And then I was out. Again.

…

Phin –

I found the kid. You owe me big time, this is going to be boring.

Alice

...

I woke up in my bed. For a second I let myself believe that it had all been a bad dream, that Phineas would come over and start enthusiastically explaining some master plan to make every day the best day ever, that we would go to school and Vanessa would still be ignoring me because of our breakup and Isabella would be flirting with Phineas who wouldn't take notice at all. Then the pendent rubbed against my chest and I knew it wasn't a dream.

I sat up slowly, looking around the room. Candace was sitting on Phineas' bed, clutching something close to her chest. When I moved she looked over and smiled sheepishly, swinging her legs off the side and turning to leave. Guilt panged in my chest and I sighed.

"You don't have to go, Candace." I told her. When she turned to smile gratefully at me, I noticed more of the thing she was holding so possessively. "What's that?" I asked. She walked over and sat at the edge of my bed.

"Oh this? It's nothing. Just…something Phineas made me when we were really little." She held it up for me to see. It was crudely constructed of several household items, not nearly as neat as the things we built together – Phineas had always been a speed builder, I was the one who made it look presentable and not like something made of random parts Phineas ordered from who-knows-where – and in the shape of a cube. It had wires sticking up all over it and so many little buttons and switches you could barely see a scrap of metal that wasn't covered in them.

"What does it do?" I asked. Candace laughed softly, a sad look in her eyes.

"He made it before I knew that the stuff actually worked. I put it in my closet and forgot about it until now." She said, shrugging helplessly. "I never asked." She got up and walked towards the door. "I should go try and calm Mom and Dad down again." She left the little box sitting at the foot of my bed. After a moment's hesitation, I picked it up, looking it over absently.

"_There are many things you don't know about your little friend."_

"_Phineas doesn't take sides. He just takes what he needs and leaves you to die."_

"_How do you know that?"_

I sighed, bouncing the little box in my hand. "Who are you?" I asked softly.

_You're too important for anyone_

_You play the role of all you long to be_

_But I – I know who you really are_

_You're the one who cries when you're alone_

_But where_

_Will you go?_

_With no one left to save you from yourself?_

_You can't escape_

_You can't escape_

_You think that I can't see right through your eyes_

_Scared to death to face reality_

_No one_

_Seems to hear your hidden cries_

_You don't want to face yourself alone_

_But where_

_Will you go?_

_With no one left to save you from yourself?_

_You can't escape_

_I realize you're afraid_

_But you can't abandon everyone_

_You can't escape_

_You don't want to escape_


End file.
